With field temperatures expected to hover around a hundred degrees at kickoff, the opener might be more akin to being Friday Night Heat, and not Friday Night Lights. Oklahoma's matchup with Temple will present few "real hurdles" but will not resemble the 73-0 woodshed trip that they put on Arkansas State to kick things off last September. In anticipation of the season's start, we outline five things we're eager to see on August 30th.
1) The honoring at halftime of the 74-75 teams: This is number one for a reason. Barry Switzer along with former players and coaches will be honored on the field in recognition of those great teams and their 50 year anniversary of sheer dominance. Consider that OU outscored their 23 opponents in that two year stretch by a margin of 817-246 and went 22-1 during those seasons.
Just before publication, Coach Switzer reached out and shared his thoughts on a most memorable couple of seasons. He emphasized that OU was a champion both on the field and off the field by offering opportunities to everyone from all backgrounds.
“Craig, I had a great group of coaches. outstanding talent were just better than everybody else at that time why we were the winningest team of the 70s,” said Barry Switzer.
“The reason was because I was doing the right thing before anybody! I was recruiting best players all positions the best out there. I was playing a black quarterback in 1972 the Southwest Conference and SEC weren’t recruiting black players. My backfield were all first round picks! [I had the] 1st, 4th, 10th, 15th and 20th picks! I had the Selmon Brothers on defense! all three were all Americans all three played pro football. Lee Roy is the best player I ever coach won the outland Lombardi first overall selection first ballot NFL Hall of Fame. they were on my 1974 undefeated national championship team.”
2) Jackson Arnold: When we last saw Jackson, the Sooners offense was in route to rolling up 562 yards of total offense in the Alamodome. While Nic Anderson will miss the game, OU expects Andrel Anthony to play. Anthony missed much of last season after an injury against Texas. Expect a big night from a number of wide receivers.
3) Danny Stutsman: If Jackson Arnold commands the offense, the same can be said for Danny on the defensive side of the ball. I doubt Sooners faithful in attendance will witness 18 tackles which Danny displayed vs. Texas Tech, but double digits in the tackle column vs. the Owls is extremely likely. The returning Senior gears up for his push to bringing back the Butkus hardware to Norman.
4) August 30th marks Billy Bowman's 30th career start at safety: Billy registered 6 interceptions a season ago, half of which he took to the house. Given the revolving door of Temple's QB's, we could see another defensive score from number 5.
5) Damonic Williams: The soon to be 20-year-old DT is a man among boys. After 27 starts at TCU, Damonic opted for the transfer portal and how defensive coordinator Zac Alley has a stabilizing interior force. Expect Williams to make an immediate impact in his first game as a Sooner.
Prediction:
Oklahoma 55 Temple 10
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